Monday, August 30, 2010

EPAW

A reminder today about the the EPAW (European Platform Against Windfarms) website: http://www.epaw.org/


Read about:
A protest concert in Sweden at historic Knutstorp Castle,

a demonstration in Denmark against forest destruction (to build a wind turbine test centre)

and more protests and demonstrations all around the world.

If you are fighting wind turbines, you are not alone. Got to the Epaw website whenever you can.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

New sculpture by Phil Epp



















Steppe herdsman by Phil Epp

Do make a point of going to Phil's website to see more photographs of this sculpture, and many more examples of his work, which is always stunning. Especially striking is the painting on the homepage at the moment, of Flint Hill mustangs below a vast Kansas sky.
the website address is:
www.philepp.com

Friday, August 27, 2010

"Is 14.51% efficiency a high enough price to make up for the permanent destruction of tranquillity and beauty? "

Don't forget to go to www.warmwell.com/windfarms.html for the latest news on windfarms.

Of special interest recently:

The August 25th posting, from which our headline quote is taken, giving efficiency figures for Old Park wind farm in Cumbria.

The August 20th posting concerning Mick Hulme, who has fought (with his own time and money) the proposal to put nine 393 ft high turbines in the Denbrook valley near Dartmoor. It includes a quote from artist Angela Kelly, Chairman of Country Guardian

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Denbrook Appeal lost.

















Looking across the Denbrook valley towards Dartmoor, early one May morning
The above painting is one that I did following my walk round Devon's wind farm sites in 2006.
I could only try to do justice to the beauty of that view: beauty which may now be desecrated.
(Christine Lovelock)

The appeal against a plan to put 9 giant turbines in a valley close to Dartmoor has been lost in the High Court. The fight has gone on for five years and included two Public Inquiries.
Is this the end of the battle? Will the tiny town of North Tawton (the setting for Jam and Jerusalem) now be dwarfed by these 110m (£90 feet) high monstrosities? Will the wonderful view of Dartmoor as seen when you walk down the Tarka Trail or the Two Moors Way towards Okehampton never be the same again?

Read more on the BBC website
or go to this website: www.denbrookvalley.co.uk/

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Horrific injuries to sea mammals

Having just seen a horrific photograph of a dead seal, its head virtually shredded, I can't help asking, why aren't the environmentalists shouting about this in all the newspapers and Press?

If dead seals were washing up on the coast around a nuclear power station, Greenpeace and other groups such as Friends of the Earth would make sure this was headline news.... but in this case, although the cause isn't yet certain, there is a suggestion that it might be something to do with the construction for the Sheringham Shoal Wind farm...

Please go to this link at Godfrey Sayers blog and read more.

Note: this post was started on Friday, since then the topic has been picked up by The Sunday Times in

Friday, August 20, 2010

Exhibition this weekend

















Snow on Tutshill, from Manning's Pit, Pilton, Barnstaple

Exhibition of Paintings by Christine Lovelock and Tim Saunders.
Two artists based in Pilton are showing their work in Pilton Church Hall this coming weekend (August 21st-22nd). Opening times 10 am - 5 pm, refreshments available in aid of Pilton Church and Pilton Church Hall.

This is not an Exhibition about wind farms but inevitably some of the paintings included by me (Christine) will be of local landscapes under threat of development. You will not see the Fullabrook Down wind turbines from this view above, but once you climb the hill in the painting above, they will almost certainly be visible once they are up.

Several campaigning friends have said they will be coming to the Exhibition - we all like to support one another in so many ways - and all are welcome, hopefully before the cakes run out!
Finally, a great thanks to Muriel Goodman (not only a great campaigner but also a bespoke picture framer) for framing all my canvases.

You can read more here: http://www.chrislovelock.co.uk/
and here: North Devon Gazette

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Surely the least thing wind farms need is plenty of wind?



















Photograph: Looking towards Dartmoor, across the site of the proposed Denbrook Wind Turbines, just outside North Tawton in Mid Devon.

As Fiona Macrae says (quote) in the Daily Mail, "It's not exactly rocket science – when building a wind farm, look for a site that is, well, quite windy. But more than half of Britain’s wind farms are operating at less than 25 per cent capacity. In England, the figure rises to 70 per cent of onshore developments, research shows."

And how many of our most beautiful landscapes, such as the one above, are being sacrificed for so little benefit?

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1303688/More-half-Britains-wind-farms-built-wind.html

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Another intermission image























Inner moorland alt caim, by Jon MacLeod

Anne Campbell and Jon MacLeod, two artists and crofters from the Isle of Lewis, were the first featured artists on the website.
To see their page again, go to this link: http://www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com/annecampbell.html